Article by John Manenti
Absolute rulers in the High Jump specialty – so much so that they won the Gold Medal in the first 8 editions of the Games – the Americans “they get surprised” at their home, that is to say on the occasion of Los Angeles Olympics 1932 when the victory smiles at the Canadian Duncan McNaughton with the measure m.1,97, salvo regain possession of the scepter four years later in Berlin, even monopolizing the podium (a fact that had not occurred since the inaugural edition of the Athens Games in 1896 …) with the Cornelius Johnson with an Olympic record at an altitude of 2.03 m ahead of compatriot Dave Albritton with whom he shared the world record of 2.07 m established at the New York Trials …
The cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Olympics prevents the best overseas specialists from being able to claim the “Olympic glory“, first among all Lester Steers, who on 17 June 1941 in Los Angeles established a world record with 2.11m which was to remain unmatched for 12 years and, moreover, to the resumption of activity after the tragic war events of the Second World War, the “Top Ten” of the 1947 year-end ranking compiled by the prestigious US magazine “Track & Field News” sees in first 8 positions as many representatives of Uncle Sam, Ranking headed by Bill Vessie to precede the already mentioned AlbrittonAAU champion in the three-year period 1945-’47.
In ninth place in the aforementioned ranking is the Australian John Winter, born 3 December 1924 in Victoria Park, a city of less than 10,000 souls near Perth, Western Australiawho stands out just 15 years old, when, on the occasion of the 1940 School Championships, he wins both the competition reserved for the Under16s with the measure of 1.79 m and the absolute one by climbing over the bar set at 1.85 m …
Also for Winter the competitive activity is conditioned by the Second World War, an event that sees him enlist in the Australian Air Force under the control of the British RAF and manages to avoid being included in the squadron of the “Wellington Bomber” only thanks to the end of hostilities, thus being able to resume racing winning the 1947 and 1948 titles of the National Championships, in both cases with the measure of m.1,99 so as to earn the selection, as the only representative of his country, for the recovery of Games coinciding with the London Olympics scheduled for July 29 to August 14, 1948.
On the American side, vice versa, come on Olympic Trials of 9 and 10 July 1948 held in Evanston, Illinois the trio comes out destined to hold up the honor”stars and stripes”, made up of the very young Vern McGrew and George Stanich (aged 18 and 19 respectively …) which conclude on equal merit with the measure of 2.04 m and completed at an altitude of 2.01 m by 25-year-old Dwight Eddelmann, curiously destined for a future in NBA basketball with Milwaukee and Fort Wayne in the role of small forward …
On the platform of the “Empire Stadium” of Wembley, the High Jump competition takes place in a single day, viz on 30 July 1948 with qualifications at 11:00 in the morning and Final scheduled for the afternoon starting at 16:30 and the limit of 1.87 m to access the final act proves to be not very selective, given that there are no less than 20 jumpers who succeed in the attempt, including the three Americans, Winter and the British Alan Paterson, silver two years earlier at the European Championships in Oslo and the only representative of the Old Continent included in the 1947 end-of-season rankingalbeit in tenth position.
I am however 13 athletes still in the race when the bar is set at an altitude of 1.95 m although in command of the provisional classification a trio quartet formed by Winter, Stanich, the Norwegian Bjorn Paulson and the Canadian Art Jackes with equal merit being the same free from errorswhile Eddleman, Paterson and the Swiss Hans Wahli are found with a penalty at m.1,90, a situation that reverses to the reported m.1,95 jumped in the first trial by Paulson alone, with Winter succeeding in the second and the American couple and the Frenchman George Damitio still remaining in the race who pass the bar only on the third attempt …
The latter, together with the Australian, are the only ones to put into practice a scissor jump technique now out of fashionas the rest of the participants used the already more consolidated ventral style, but the one that vice versa has the greatest impact on the outcome of the competition is the rain combined with a particularly cold day, so that the same lasts several hours due to the various interruptions and, finally, when the Finale resumes at an altitude of 1.98 m, the first four jumpers remaining in the competition fail their first attempt, on the contrary of Winter who, called to perform last, pulls the card from the cylinder which turns out to be the winner as no one else can match it.
And that’s how it is Winter gives his country what is still the only Gold Medal in the history of the Games in the High Jumpwith the silver medal for Poulsen and the bronze for Stanich for the calculation of the mistakes made, while the not yet 24-year-old Australian – who ends the year at the top of the World Ranking – decides to stay in England so as to skip the National Championships of 1949, except to reconsider in view of the Commonwealth Games which take place in Auckland, New Zealand, in the week from 3 to 11 February 1950, and in which he participates after winning his third national title with the not excellent measure of m.1,93 …
On the platform of “Eden Park”, Winter – who in his career boasts a “Personal Best” of m.2,01 established in Perth at the end of February 1948 – confirms that the Gold of London was not a coincidence, repeating the same measure of 1.98 m to win the title, preceding Paterson and the Nigerian Josiah Majekodunmi who do not go beyond the quota of 1.96 m to then abandon the activity at the end of the season after being placed in second place in the world ranking at the end of the year, behind the Senegalese Papa Gallo Thiam, subsequently naturalized French and who in 1950 had jumped 2.03 m …
And, after all, having won the two most important events of the time for an Australian athlete, what else did he have to ask …